The invention relates to improvements in cutting machines in general, and more particularly to improvemens in guillotine type cutting machines which can be used with advantage to subdivide stacks of superimposed paper sheets into smaller stacks, e.g., to divide large stacks of superimposed labels into smaller stacks.
A guillotine type cutting machine normally comprises a table which supports the stock to be severed, a knife which is movable up and down to sever the stock in a predetermined cutting plane, a hold-down device which bears upon the stock adjacent the cutting plane in the course of the cutting operation, and means for feeding the stock into the range of the cutter, i.e., along the table. Certain presently known guillotine type cutting machines are manufactured by Maschinenfabrik Adolf Mohr, German Federal Republic, and are known as "Polar". Reference may be had to German Pat. No. 27 23 162 and to German Offenlegungsschrift No. 31 01 911.
A drawback of many presently known cutting machines is that the stock on the table cannot be positioned and held with a sufficiently high degree of precision. This is attributable in part to the presence of air which is entrapped between the superimposed sheets of the stock as well as to other factors, such as the absence of adequate means for orienting the stock prior to actuation of the hold-down device.